M. Soledad Benitez Ponce

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Associate Professor. Phytobacteriology

benitezponce.1@osu.edu

330-202-3565

Office:

Selby Hall (Wooster)

Professional Information

Degrees & Credentials:

PhD Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University

MS Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University

BS Biological Sciences, Pontifica Universidad Catolica del Ecuador

Research Area(s):

Plant microbiome research; beneficial plant-microbe interactions; microbial ecology

Biography:

Lab website: https://u.osu.edu/benitezponce-1/

(see Publications under the Works tab)

I specialize in studies of diversity and function of plant-associated microbial communities in agricultural systems and their contributions to plant growth. That agricultural management practices affect the structure and diversity of plant-associated and soil microbial communities has been widely documented; however, we are still trying to understand how to best incorporate measures of microbial diversity, activity, and function to guide the choice of agricultural management practices. Furthermore, specific aspects of the ecology of plant-microbe interactions, as it affects plant health, remain to be understood. My research program focuses on questions related to a) agricultural management practices' effects on plant-associated microbial community dynamics; b) endophytic microbiome establishment and factors affecting microbiome composition; and c) relationships between plant microbiome diversity and dynamics and plant disease incidence. In addition, I aim to understand how these complex interactions can contribute to the success and stability of microbial inoculants in agriculture. To answer these questions, we use classic microbiology and plant pathology techniques, including high throughput next-generation sequencing for microbial community evaluations; greenhouse and field experiments to assess plant health; and computational analysis required for integrating microbial community, soil, and plant health data.

Currently, my research is focused on two cropping systems: field crops and hydroponic production. For field crops, we work on crop diversification, in particular, extended rotation sequences (3-4 years) and cover crops as part of corn and soybean production. In Ohio, in 2018 the acres planted to corn and soybean totaled 8.5 million acres. Hence understanding the relationship between cropping practices, soil and plant health, and the microbiome is of great relevance to the state. We recently began working in controlled environment agriculture (CEA), with an emphasis on hydroponic production and the microbiome in different compoents of the system. In hydroponic production, plant roots are suspended in a nutrient solution and growth parameters are monitored and controlled to maximize growth. Hydroponics, like other CEA industries, is expanding rapidly in Ohio and other regions, as a source of high-quality local produce. Furthermore, I have established collaborations industry partners to explore aspects of beneficial bacterial and/or fungal interactions, with a current focus on corn and soybean as model systems. Finally, in collaboration with researchers at Oklahoma State University and Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas ESPE, we are studying aspects of suppressive soils in potato cropping systems in Ecuador.

I am also a member of OSU Center for Applied Plant Sciences (https://caps.osu.edu) the Infectious Diseases Institute (https://idi.osu.edu), OSU Soybean Center (https://soybean.cfaes.ohio-state.edu) and the Center of Microbiome Science (https://u.osu.edu/coms/).

Lab pictures

Fall 2018: Ranjana Rawal (Horticulture and Crop Sciences, PhD Student); Leslie Taylor (lab manager); Daowen Huo (Plant Pathology, MSc student); Wattanaporn Teerasan (Mai, Visiting Scholar); Ana M. Vazquez-Catoni (Plant Pathology, MSc student)

Summer 2019: Nedas Matulionis (College of Wooster), Emmily Moses (Ohio Northern University), Leslie Taylor, Ana Vazquez-Catoni, Daowen Huo, Ranjana Rawal.

Benitez Lab Fall 2019

Fall 2019: Leslie Taylor, Ana Vazquez-Catoni, Daowen Huo (not pictured), Ranjana Rawal, Junaid Abdullah, Matthew Willman

Spring 2021 Lab

Spring 2021 (left to right): Melanie Medina Lopez, Ranjana Rawal, Leslie Taylor, Timothy Frey, M. Soledad Benitez Ponce, Fiama Guevara Guillen.

Research and Teaching Experience

The Ohio State University – Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Department of Plant Pathology

Associate Professor in Phytobacteriology 2023 - current

Assistant Professor in Phytobacteriology August 2017 – 2023

North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory (Brookings, South Dakota), Agricultural Research Services, United States Department of Agriculture; Research Biologist / Postdoctoral research associate December 2014 – July 2017

Oklahoma State University, Department of Entomology and Plant Pathology, Visiting Research Scholar February 2014 – December 2014

Duke University, Nicholas School of the Environment, Postdoctoral associate June 2011 – January 2014

Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas (ESPE), Life Sciences Department, Assistant Professor of Microbiology October 2008 – June 2011

The Ohio State University, Department of Plant Pathology, Graduate Research Associate September 2004 – August 2008

Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Life Sciences Department. Assistant Professor. September 2002 – July 2004

Works

Medina Lopez M; Lopez Nicora H, Benitez Ponce MS. 2024. Fungal communities shift with plant parasitic nematode abundance in soils. agriRxiv. CABI International agriRxiv.https://doi.org/10.31220/agriRxiv.2024.00225.

Vazquez A, Sprunger C, Benitez Ponce MS. History of chicken grazing stunts tomato seedling growth and influences associated bacterial endophytes. agriRxiv. CABI International agriRxiv. https://doi.org/10.31220/agriRxiv.2023.00201.

Frey, T; Huo D; Medina M; Ritter B; Lindsey L, Benitez Ponce MS. 2023. Fungal communities associated with corn in a diverse long-term crop rotation in Ohio. Phytofrontiers First Look https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTOFR-07-23-0091-R

Huo D, Malacrino A, Lindsey L, Benitez MS. Subtle responses of soil bacterial communities to corn-soybean-wheat rotation. Phytobiomes Journal 7:3, 392-400 https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-05-22-0032-R.

Rawal R, Poelstra J, Scheerens J, Benitez Ponce MS. 2023. Inoculation of Trichoderma asperelloides NT33 causes minor transcriptional changes in tomato plants under water deficit stress conditions. agriRxiv. CABI International agriRxiv. doi: 10.31220/agriRxiv.2023.00168.

Rawal R, Fenstemaker S, David F, Miller S, Scheerens J, Benitez MS. Novel Trichoderma
Isolates Alleviate Water Deficit Stress in Susceptible Tomato Genotypes. Frontiers in Plant
Science. 13:869090. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2022.869090.

Malacrino A; Abdelfattah A; Berg G; Benitez MS; Bennett AE; Böttner L; Xu S; Schena L. 2022. Exploring microbiomes for plant disease management. Biological Control. 169: 104890.

Benitez Huo, D., Frey, T., Lindsey, L. E., & Benitez, M.-S. (2022). Yield and soil responses to adding wheat to a corn–soybean rotation. Crop Forage & Turfgrass Mgmt, 8,e20143.https://doi.org/10.1002/cft2.20143

Benitez MS, Ewing P., Osborne S, Lehman RM. 2021. Rhizosphere microbial communities explain positive effects of diverse crop rotations on corn and soybean performance. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 159: 108309. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108309.

Navarro KA, Wijeratne S, Culman S, Benitez MS, Dorrance AE. 2021. Comparison of the Species Communities of Phytophthora, Pythium and Phytopythium Associated with Soybean Genotypes in High Disease Environments in Ohio. Phytobiomes Journal 2021 5:3, 288-304

Ewing CJ, Slot J, Benitez MS, Rosa C, Malacrino A, Bennett A, Bonello P. 2021. The foliar endophytic microbiome points to potential causal agents of beech leaf disease. Phytobiomes Journal 2021 5:3, 335-349. https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-12-20-0088-R.

Benitez MS, Ewing P., Osborne S, Lehman RM. 2021. Rhizosphere microbial communities explain positive effects of diverse crop rotations on corn and soybean performance. In press. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2021.108309.

Ewing CJ, Slot J, Benitez MS, Rosa C, Malacrino A, Bennett A, BonelloP. 2021. The foliar endophytic microbiome points to potential causal agents of beech leaf disease. In press. Phytobiomes Journal 0 0:ja. https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-12-20-0088-R.

Willman M, Keener HM, Benitez MS. 2021. Sequence resource of bacterial communities associated to hemp in Ohio. In press. Phytobiomes Journal 2021 5:2, 244-247. https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-09-20-0062-A

Navarro KA, Wijeratne S, Culman S, Benitez MS, Dorrance AE. 2021. The Effects of Temperature and Production Practices on Phytophthora, Phytopythium, and Pythium Communities of Soybean. Phytobiomes Journal 2021 5:2, 133-144. https://doi.org/10.1094/PBIOMES-01-20-0016-R.

Mogren, C; Benitez, MS; McCarter K; Boyer F; Lundgren J. 2020. Diverging landscape impacts on macronutrient status despite overlapping diets in managed (Apis mellifera) and native (Melissodes desponsa) bees. Conservation Physiology 8.1: coaa109. https://doi.org/10.1093/conphys/coaa109.

Orquera-Tornakian G, Diaz CI, Mogrovejo DC, Villamarin DJ, Jarrin F, Ponce LK, Oliva R, Gia J, Forbes GA, Andrade-Piedra J, Flores FJ, Garzón CD, Molineros J, Koch A, Benítez MS. 2018. Characterization of tuber-blight suppressive soils from four provinces of the Ecuadorean Andes. Plant Pathology 67: 1562-1573. doi:10.1111/ppa.12872

Benítez MS, S.Osborne, Lehman RM. 2017. Previous crop and rotation history effects on corn health and associated microbiome. Scientific Reports 7(1), 15709. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15955-9

Benítez MS, Taheri W, Lehman RM. 2016. Selection of Fungi by Candidate Cover Crop species. Applied Soil Ecology, 103, 72-82. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2016.03.016

Benítez MS, Hersh MH, Vilgalys R, Clark JC. 2013. Pathogen regulation of plant diversity via effective specialization. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 28:705-711. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2013.09.005

Benítez MS, McSpadden Gardener BB. 2009. Linking sequence to function in soil: Sequence-directed isolation of novel bacteria contributing to soilborne plant disease suppression. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 75: 915-924.doi: 10.1128/AEM.01296-08

Baysal F, Benítez MS, Kleinhenz MD, McSpadden Gardener BB, Miller SA. 2008. Field Management Effects on Damping-off and Early Season Vigor of Crops in a Transitional Organic Cropping System. Phytopathology 98:562-570. doi: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-98-5-0562

Benítez MS, Baysal Tustas F, Rotenberg D, Kleinhenz MD, Cardina J, Stinner D, Miller SA, McSpadden Gardener BB. 2007. Multiple statistical approaches of community fingerprint data reveal bacterial populations associated with disease suppression arising from the application of different organic field management strategies. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39: 2289-2301. doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2007.03.028

Rotenberg D, Joshi R, Benítez MS, Gutierrez Chapin L, Camp A, Zumpetta C, Osborne A, Dick WA, McSpadden Gardener BB. 2007. Farm management effects on rhizosphere colonization by native populations of 2,4-diacetylphloroglucinol-producing Pseudomonas spp. and their contributions to crop health. Phytopathology 97: 756-766. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-97-6-0756

Pérez O, Benítez MS, Nath K, Heasman J, del Pino EM, Elinson R. 2007. Comparative analysis of Xenopus VegT, the meso-endodermal determinant, identifies an unusual conserved sequence. Differentiation 75: 559-565.

McSpadden Gardener BB, Benítez MS, Camp A, Zumpetta C. 2006. Evaluation of a seed treatment containing a phlD+ strain Pseudomonas fluorescens on organic soybeans, 2005. Biological and Cultural Tests 21:FC046.

del Pino, EM, Avila ME, Pérez OD, Benítez MS, Alarcón I, Noboa V, Moya I. 2004. Development of the dendrobatid frog Colostethus machalilla. Int. J. Dev. Biol. 48: 663-670.

Benítez MS, del Pino EM. 2002. Expression of Brachyury During Development of the Dendrobatid Frog Colostethus machalilla. Dev. Dyn. 225:592–596.

Patents

McSpadden Gardener BB, Benítez MS. 2013. US Patent 8,404,475. Isolation of novel bacteria contributing to soilborne disease suppression

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